The International Civil Aviation Organization's governing council is expected to discuss "market-based measures" to reduce emissions next week. Secretary-General Raymond Benjamin said he will ask it to eliminate one of four options on the table at that session. Others could be ruled out when the council meets again in the autumn.

"I believe that the turning point will be in March next year, when we will put one option on the table, if all goes well," he said. "It depends on the member states."

Stiff resistance from China, the United States and other nations to the European Union's airline emissions trading scheme has put the ICAO under pressure to come up with a global alternative that could resolve the dispute. In March, Benjamin told Reuters that ICAO was on track to have a draft by the end of 2012.